The first Vietnamese girl to win Japan's biggest fashion design competition

Surpassing 6,672 contestants from prestigious fashion academies in Japan and 9 other countries, Vietnamese girl Phan Thi Cam Tu with her work with the idea of ​​"the beauty of imperfection" excellently won the highest prize of Tokyo New Designer Fashion Grand Prix 2016, the largest fashion design competition in Japan.

The outfit with the idea of ​​"the beauty of imperfection" helped a Vietnamese girl win a famous fashion design contest in Japan.

Mentioning the Tokyo New Designer Fashion Grand Prix is ​​mentioning the oldest and most prestigious competition in the land of the rising sun. The competition has the famous French designer Jean Paul Gaultier (who created an empire in the world fashion industry with unique and fierce collections) as a judge for many years.

The Tokyo New Designer Fashion Grand Prix not only selects and honors pioneering and unique collections, ideas, concepts and design techniques; it also nurtures the best quality designers for Tokyo and all of Japan. The finalists are considered a guarantee for a position in the fashion industry after graduation.

Therefore, conquering this competition is always the dream of many young designers as well as fashion students around the world. And it is a great pride that Phan Thi Cam Tu - a Vietnamese female student studying in Japan has surpassed more than 6,500 competitors from 10 countries to win the championship - Grand Prize (the highest prize) of Tokyo New Designer Fashion Grand Prix 2016 held on October 19. More interestingly, she is also the first Vietnamese person in history to participate in an international competition.

Cam Tu created the work using 3D patterning techniques, the shape of which resembles ceramic vases with broken pieces randomly joined together, expressing the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi.

Cam Tu graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture in 2010 with a major in Fashion Design. She then became a lecturer in the Fashion Design department at Hutech University of Engineering and Technology – Ho Chi Minh City before going to Japan to study in 2014.

Cam Tu is currently studying at Ueda College of Fashion in Osaka, Japan, 2-year Fashion Creator Advance course. This talented girl won the first prize of Triumph Inspiration Award Vietnam in March 2010, Top 10 final round of Triumph International Award in London, UK in October 2010.

When Cam Tu came to Japan to study fashion, she was completely captivated by a book about the philosophy of wabi sabi. And the broken ceramic bowls made with the art of Kintsugi made Cam Tu extremely excited, opening up many thoughts about life. That was also the situation that helped Cam Tu nurture the idea of ​​“the beauty of imperfection” to participate in a fashion contest in Japan.

Talented Vietnamese girl speaks at the moment of receiving the Tokyo New Designer Fashion Grand Prix 2016 championship award.

Sharing the idea of ​​“the beauty of imperfection”, Cam Tu said that her entry had the concept of “Kintsugi”, which is the name of a traditional Japanese art – repairing broken pieces of pottery with precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum. The concept represents a philosophy that repairs and healing are honored as part of the history of the object, not a way to cover it up.

From there, the Vietnamese female student created a work with 3D patterning techniques, shaped like ceramic vases with pieces randomly joined together. The pieces were assembled from gold thread using crochet techniques. The entire outfit was made entirely by hand by Cam Tu, without the use of machines, over a period of 2 months.

Cam Tu said that during the process, the biggest challenge was finding the right material for the desired idea and shape. She spent a lot of time initially trying out different materials to achieve the rustic yet sparkling feel of broken ceramic bowls.

At the final round, the jury was extremely surprised and highly appreciated the Vietnamese girl's Kintsugi idea. They said that they did not expect that a student from Vietnam could create a work inspired by traditional Japanese art so deeply that even an ordinary Japanese person did not know about this art and fully understood its philosophy.

With the highest prize in the prestigious Japanese fashion contest, Cam Tu will receive 1 million yen in prize money and a round-trip ticket to Paris - the world's fashion capital.

After winning the award, Cam Tu still has one more semester to complete, she will graduate from Ueda College of Fashion in March 2017. Cam Tu plans to take a trip to France and visit European countries right after graduation.

According to Dantri